


Touched in the Head (but more sane than you)

by zxrysky



Series: Naruto Drabbles [2]
Category: Alice in Wonderland (2010), Naruto
Genre: Hope you like it too, I like this?, Reincarnation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-31
Updated: 2015-07-31
Packaged: 2018-04-12 05:48:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 6,221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4467722
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zxrysky/pseuds/zxrysky
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tobirama remembers things. A place where the flowers speak and the trees dance, and the animals are alive. </p><p>He remembers being a girl with sun coloured hair and a pretty blue sundress, falling down an endless hole that lead to a wondrous place. He remembers an insane place with no rules, where everyone was of different degrees of madness and yet all were accepted.</p><p>The trees listen to his words, softly swaying and passing on messages.</p><p>His brother may control them, but Tobirama listens. And that's better.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

When Tobirama was born, it was in the middle of a war torn clan hall, in the midst of screams and cries and death soaking through the cracks in the flooring. People fight to survive, not live, because it is the era of war, the era of survival, where weakness is nothing and killing is everything.

 

His brother is chunin, almost jounin, all his promotions on the battlefield with blood on his hands and death in his eyes, the clan heir and the best of the best. He controls the trees, they follow his commands and grow and stretch and tangle wherever he wants them to. Tobirama has wandered into the Senju forest before, he's seen how enormous the trees are, and they've all been coaxed into existence by his miracle of a brother.

 

Tobirama is hidden in the shadows of his sibling, close and never two steps behind but never an equal, not with the years of survival and killings and experience between the two of them.

 

But one thing that many people forget about Tobirama, one thing that many people don't even know about, period, is that when Tobirama was born,

 

The trees talked and the plants sung.

 

They told stories and whispered tales of a girl with hair golden as the sun and eyes blue as the sea walking amongst them, in a place where nothing was everything and all the rules were flipped overhead. There were no rules in that place, madness was madness and everyone was allowed to be a little bit mad on different scales and at different times.

 

Tobirama had white hair and eyes as red as those of the Uchiha clan (which was an insult to most, because it was the Uchiha after all) but they saw him as always.

 

Appearances had never mattered in Wonderland, and masks were something some people wore on a regular basis. Tobirama had white hair and red eyes and they saw him as once a girl with golden hair and blue eyes.

 

The Senju clan forgot that the trees and plants and all the foliage imaginable had come alive that one not-that-special day of Tobirama's birth, but the birthday boy hadn't.

 

His brother could control the trees, could command plants and shift them to adhere to his wishes, but he could do more.

 

Animals and plants were under his rule, willingly, and he was someone who once roamed Wonderland.

 

That, in itself, gave him status his entire clan could never dream of.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave a review on your way out or drop by my [twitter](https://twitter.com/zxrysky) and [tumblr](http://zxrysky.tumblr.com/)


	2. Chapter 2

The trees speak to Tobirama, and they weave tales of how Wonderland was like, once upon a time, before Alice came and after Alice left. Tobirama likes sitting near the trees, leaning back on the bark and listening to the stories they whisper in his ear. Hashirama doesn't understand, will _never_ understand, because for all that the trees listen to him, he can never listen to _them_.

 

The trees only respond to one person, and that is Tobirama.

 

He doesn't mind it, the self-found loneliness and sneaking away from the crowd. Tobirama has never liked crowds anyways, he likes to dream and think and reminisce about a world he once ruled with old friends. Hashirama is the people person out of the two, and he's the clan heir - it suits him, it suits Tobirama, and the younger doesn't bother complaining.

 

It's a simple relationship, between Tobirama and the trees, between the plants and Tobirama.

 

He doesn't tell anyone, but he gets secret information from the trees. They're _dreadful_ gossips, and ninjas usually don't watch their words when around a _tree_ , so they get lots of inside information which they pass along to _Tobirama_ , who passes it along to Hashirama.

 

Hashirama can be hailed as a budding prodigy on the battlefield, and as a sort of genius at home, but he really doesn't _get_ some things, and Tobirama tells him secrets meshed in riddles and twists and turns that _confuses_ his brother, but when Hashirama relays it to their father, their father _gets_ it, and thinks it's _Hashirama_ who's speaking in riddles. And then Hashirama gets celebrated as an even _better_ genius, and Tobirama laughs in a corner with a plate of food while his older brother whines confusedly at the newfound attention.

 

It's how they found out about the imminent attack on the clan by the Uchiha, and how _Tobirama_ found out that _three_ of the Uchiha siblings had died at his father's hands - it was the clan, but under the direct orders of his father and that's as good as his father dirtying those hands himself. The Uchiha siblings had been _children_ , the youngest of the lot. Tobirama had lost one of his own, and would have _nearly_ lost the other, if not for the trees screaming in the wind for Tobirama to come. They were asking _children_ to kill, children that hadn't even had their coming of age. Tobirama was different, he had lived through a war, existed in two worlds and this was his third and he was _battle-hard_.Already, the pain and grief of losing his younger sibling - not the youngest, but _younger_ , and the role of the older brother was to protect and to help and to mentor and to _keep safe_ and he had _failedfailedfailed_ \- had rendered him almost useless, and to lose _three_ younger siblings…

 

He knows that everyone was entitled to a little bit of madness, knows that everyone had their own fair share of demons, something he had learnt in his stint in Wonderland, but there was something like going _too far_.

 

It's one of the reasons why every time he sees Uchiha Izuna, and knows deep in his heart that the Uchiha boy is _good_ , _brilliant_ , even, but he is _better_ , he strikes the killing blow - or rather, what _should_ be the killing blow - with the flat of his blade and spares the boy. It's shameful, knowing that you've been spared by your supposedly sworn enemy because of an issue between one's _parents_ , but Tobirama values his life a bit more than he values his honour - just a _bit_ , because any more and not only his dad, maybe even _Hashirama_ would attack him, and imagine _that_ \- and he imagines that Izuna feels the same.

 

Which is why when he secretly slips a note into Izuna's open sleeve as he brings his sword down and purposely misses, Izuna's eyes flicker a bit, glancing at the piece of paper. He doesn't reach in and rip it apart on the spot, so Tobirama assumes that Izuna accepts it.

 

It's clear that the latter does, when he appears at the designated meeting spot two days later, two hours late.

 

"You idiot!" Izuna says, panting. "Why do you have to write stuff in riddles? It's confusing! I spent more time running around trying to solve the riddle than actually training today!"

 

"… It was a relatively simple riddle?" Tobirama replies, eyebrow raised. The place where the moonlight shines, the moment where the hawk flies, the people with brown skin and green hair. The clearing at the top of the cliff, with hawk nests (hard to find, but they exist) and the only place where moonlight shone at night. In fact, the only riddle-ish part of the entire message was about the people. Which were trees, _obviously_.

 

"I spent three hours searching for you!" Izuna hisses, and Tobirama's lips upturned.

 

"At least you solved it."

 

"I didn't!" And that made Izuna sound all the more outraged. "I just ran around until I found you! I solved nothing! I still don't understand it!"

 

Tobirama cracks a smile, and spends the next half an hour coaxing and riling up a petulant Izuna until the latter agrees to a fight. The Uchiha is strangely like Hashirama, easy angered and prefers sulking in a corner until he gets his way, but deadly efficient when he wants to be.

 

Tobirama likes it, likes seeing this side of his enemies. It reminds him that they are human and that when they die, they should die with honour, even if they are fighting a senseless battle. It makes him want to know his enemy's name when he kills the latter, to be able to look his enemy in the eye as the latter draws his last breath. Being a ninja has a lot to do with honour,  but something most forget about is that honour in the method of death is not the most important, honour in death itself, when one dies out on the battlefield, alone save for your killer, honour is making your enemy know your name, memorise your name, and learn that you have went down in glorious, _glorious_ battle.

 

They lie spread-eagled on the ground later, the dust still curling around them and their breaths harsh and deep. It was a good fight, Izuna had been good, better than expected when fighting in a space without his father's keen gaze and unspoken expectations weighing on him. It's a surprise, a shock, that Izuna gives as good as he gets, and Tobirama has a smile on his face throughout the entire thing. It's not quite war on a battlefield, but it's raging and violent and bloody nonetheless and it's amazing.

 

"You're surprisingly good," Tobirama tells Izuna, and predictably, the Uchiha bristles.

 

"Well _thanks_ ," he replies sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "I suppose you weren't half bad," Izuna acquiesces reluctantly, eyes on the sky and heart soaring.

 

They lie there for a while, time blurring into non-existence as they lay there until their breath evens out, but Tobirama suddenly shoots up, eyes shining and wary. He bounds up, all messy limbs and ruffled hair, eyes darting around and kunai in hand.

 

He nods at Izuna, once, a sort-of-smile on his face that acknowledges their sort-of-camaederie, and disappears. Izuna's eyes _bugs_ out, because _dammit_ Tobirama was fast and evidently he wasn't trying his best in the fight with Izuna. It doesn't quite make him angry, but it makes his blood boil and Izuna smiles, sharp teeth and dangerous eyes, and promises under his breath that he'll be even _better_ the next time they meet. There's a laugh on the wind and Izuna suspects that it's Tobirama, who has somehow heard of the whispered sort-of-oath.

 

Madara stomps around the corner, pausing when he sees Izuna's prone body, raising an eyebrow and snorting, and Izuna _understands_ why Tobirama just up and left.

 

Tobirama had told him that he was a sensor, once, whispered in battle. The first fight that they had was real, filled with pent up emotions and each out for death, but the next few were mere plays, pretend, because both younger brothers knew that they weren't in the limelight, would never be, would always be in the shadow of their elder sibling and even if one killed the other, nothing would be achieved save for unending guilt.

 

They started to talk during those battles, in the midst of curving swords and billowing sleeves and messed up hair.

 

Izuna smiles at Madara, innocent and cute, and tells him that "I was training brother, would you care to join me?"

 

Madara snorts and shakes his head, striding away, and Izuna's smile curves into something inherently sad.

 

Madara doesn't see him as much of a challenge, doesn’t even see him as much of a brother, and Izuna suddenly misses Tobirama.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave a review on your way out or drop by my [twitter](https://twitter.com/zxrysky) and [tumblr](http://zxrysky.tumblr.com/)


	3. Chapter 3

Tobirama stalks Hashirama, and the latter doesn't realise it. There is such a thing as getting too used to something, and Tobirama lets his chakra loose most of the time, hides it at others, and Hashirama has gotten used to it all, so when Tobirama hides his chakra and stalks his older brother, just as his father has instructed him to, Hashirama doesn't realise it.

 

His brother is an idiot, Tobirama muses as he sits with his back to a tree, a gigantic scroll in front of him. There are words on it, a simple poem, and Tobirama is trying to write it out in the air. It's ambitious, and unheard of, since everyone is focused on war and fighting and blood.

 

It's something he's read, once upon a time, in Wonderland, and now that he actually has the means to do it, he's dying to try.

 

He runs his finger through the air, and fire follows, staying in the air, hovering still and silent, and the words craft themselves before his eyes in shades of red and gold and orange and it's _beautiful_.

 

It's called Fire Calligraphy, and Tobirama wishes that he could spread it amongst his clan, maybe more people. It's utterly _gorgeous_.

 

There's a splutter behind him, gasps of what seems to resemble a dying fish and flailing arms, and Tobirama recognises the chakra. It's sharp and fiery and black, but not in a bad way, he doesn't think so, and it's sort of but not quite familiar.

 

It's Madara Uchiha, Izuna's older brother and the boy that Hashirama has been sneaking off to meet.

 

Tobirama pauses, before wrinkling his nose and shaking his head, the fire in the air dispelling as he does so. Saying it like makes it seem like Hashirama and Madara are… are… in a _relationship_ , like star-crossed lovers torn between their blood and their clans and Tobirama shudders at thought.

 

Madara storms in front of him, mouth opening and closing like a dying fish, before looking at Tobirama like the white haired boy has killed the entire Uchiha clan in front of Madara. Which Tobirama hasn't, obviously.

 

"You," Madara gets out, and it seems to take him a while to realise who he is, his position, _Tobirama's_ possible position, and his body relaxes, tenses, then relaxes again. Tobirama takes it to mean that the Uchiha with the gravity defying hair doesn't see him as much of an opponent.

 

"Yes, me," Tobirama snarks back, before opening his scroll again. "Do you have something you want to say to me, or did you just come up here to prance around?"

 

Madara chokes a bit more, scowling at Tobirama. "What are you doing here?"

 

"Checking on my brother," Tobirama says dismissively. Hashirama has already left, but apparently, the Uchiha decided to stick around just for kicks. It clicks in Madara's mind almost close to instantly, even though he suspects that Hashirama hasn't talked about Tobirama much - he has never been Hashirama's favourite brother, even though he's taken a  hit from their father for him, and saved him in battle. Itama is Hashirama's favourite brother, but maybe that place is tied with the scowling boy in front of him right now, and Tobirama is far, far from that place. "He seems to come here a lot."

 

"He does," Madara says suspiciously. "So what are you going to do?"

 

"Me?" Tobirama points to himself, head tilting. "Read my scroll," he deadpans, raising an eyebrow and lightly shaking the scroll in his lap. "The one in my lap, right here."

 

"You aren't going to tell on him? That he's been meeting with an _Uchiha_ , no less?" Madara presses.

 

"Do you _want_ me to tell?" Tobirama arches his eyebrow even further, and Madara snickers just a little bit, under his breath. "It's fine, anyways," Tobirama dismisses it. "I meet up with an Uchiha too, not as regularly as you two, but I still do it. Sparingly yeah, but, well. And Brother is happy when he's with you, not in the romantic sense, but in the sense that someone can relate to him and sort of understand and link his dreams of a better future and peace." Tobirama pauses, and Madara cuts in.

 

"An Uchiha? Who?" Madara questions immediately, stiffening. Tobirama hums, keeping quiet, and Madara rolls his eyes. He should be familiar with this run of song and dance, because it's what Izuna does when he doesn't want to confess something to Tobirama. Madara tries another question instead. "Do you believe in that dream of your brother's?"

 

"Peace?" Tobirama considers it. "I'd like it, but I'd say that as of right now, it seems highly unlikely. But peace can be attained, always can, always will, just dependent on who attains it, and for whom."

 

He's attained peace once upon a time, in Wonderland, once for a wrong cause and twice for a not so wrong and slightly better cause. The trees don't let him forget it, the stray animals that he finds don't let him forget it.

 

Madara looks stunned, like he hasn't expected anyone other than Hashirama from the Senju clan to agree with the hopeless ideas of peace.

 

"Do you want to spar?" Tobirama finally asks, putting his scroll aside. "I would like to measure myself against the Uchiha clan heir."

 

Madara sneers at him, but there's no real malice behind it, and shrugs, head inclining in a half-nod. "Don't cry when I beat you."

 

"That's my brother," Tobirama replies, nose wrinkling. "And you won't beat me that easily, I'm pretty good for my age."

 

He doesn't say it like he's trying to brag, but he says it like it's a fact, and Madara appreciates that. It's not overconfidence, neither is it humility, it's just _facts_.

 

They spar, using the trees and the water and Tobirama uses that Fire Calligraphy trick to distract Madara while the latter is about to launch into an attack - say what you want to, but having your name and Hashirama's name written out and entwined together like how married couples have theirs is _startling_ , even though it's _not true_ , and it certainly distracts Madara long enough for Tobirama to bury a kunai in his shoulder.

 

Madara keens, and retaliates with a Katon jutsu that nearly starts a forest fire.

 

When they end, they are bleeding and panting and wide eyed on the ground, but there are smiles on their faces and a new found sense of camadaerie.

 

Tobirama gives as good as he gets, and Madara thinks that he's having a strange grudging admiration for younger brothers who are strangely logical and seemingly but not quite cynical.

 

"I'll come at you with my full force next time, this was just a silver of my true strength," Madara promises Tobirama and shunshins away back to the clan compound, Tobirama's angry sort of shriek echoing behind him.

 

Madara laughs and laughs, and when Izuna comes wandering into his room and asks what's so funny, Madara smiles at him like he hasn't done in a long time.

 

He doesn't explain what's so funny, but when Izuna manages to win _one_ spar against Madara - it was _one_ , just _one_ win to almost a _thousand_ losses but Madara knows he will _never_ live this down so _shit_ \- Madara realises who Tobirama has been sparing with as his breath comes out of his body in a whoosh.

 

It's _Izuna_ , dammit, and Madara has never been more amused in possibly his entire life, so he takes his loss as graciously as possible, and even praises Izuna on his stance and form.

 

Izuna is brimming with energy and excitement, and Madara thinks that maybe his respect should be spread out to _all_ younger brothers. They have their own secret dreams too, and Madara should remember that they're their own people as well, who uphold not just the role of _younger brother_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave a review on your way out or drop by my [twitter](https://twitter.com/zxrysky) and [tumblr](http://zxrysky.tumblr.com/)


	4. Chapter 4

Izuna is the first to catch him talking to the trees. It's hilarious and all too funny when Tobirama turns after a long and in depth conversation with the oak tree at their usual clearing and sees Izuna staring at him like he's a little bit crazy.

 

Tobirama _is_ a little bit crazy, but they are children born in war time and they grow up with not fairy tales but war strategies and being a murderer is easier than not being one, indicating that they have enough reason to be more than a little bit mad in the head.

 

Izuna opens and closes his mouth like he can't decide on what to say, and he finally decides on a very elegant " _What._ "

 

Tobirama laughs a bit, getting up and gliding over to Izuna, bare feet and clothes billowing in the wind. Izuna is to Tobirama what Madara is to Hashirama, he thinks, their not-so-better and not-so-worse half, similar in mind and in soul and everything that they never knew they ever needed. Izuna makes Tobirama laugh more than Hashirama, and that says something about how brilliant a brother he has, when his enemy makes him laugh more than his brother.

 

"You- That- The _hell_ \- Why were you talking to a _tree_?" Izuna asks, confused.

 

"Because it can hold a better conversation than most people," Tobirama replies. "And trees know many things, seeing as people let their tongues run wild when in the company of trees and nothing else. Trees and animals who aren't summons aren't _supposed_ to talk, so when they talk to _me_ , people don't realise."

 

"You're lying," Izuna says half-heartedly, because he has known Tobirama for a long, long time and he knows when Tobirama lies. Tobirama is a brilliant liar, but if you look for the signs, with the little quirk of the lips to the right and the shine in his eyes, it is easier to guess when he is lying. And Tobirama is not lying, not now.

 

"I could tell you a story," Tobirama offers, dragging Izuna over to the oak tree and sitting down, leaning on the bark. "A story about a girl with golden hair and blue eyes and a blue sundress named Alice who fell down a hole and entered an entire new world where plants talked and animals talked and war raged."

 

"Alice?" Izuna repeats like a broken recorder.

 

"Alice in Wonderland," Tobirama confirms, and something weary settles in his bones.

 

Telling his life like a story gives it a sense of closure, that Tobirama, all of thirteen and awkward limbs with snow-white hair is never going back to his world, both Wonderland and the world where his older sister resides. The White Rabbit will never come to fetch him down a hole, the Mad Hatter and the Tweedle twins will not be there to greet him, the Dormouse will never ride on his shoulder again and the Knave of Hearts will not pretend to be an enemy again. The Cheshire Cat will never startle him again with his disappearing body and features, and the Red Queen will never call for his head to be chopped off.

 

He _misses_ it, with the judging flowers and whispering trees who weren't really on a side, just there and living and existing.

 

He even misses his big lug of a not quite pet, the _Bandersnatch_ , which he rode on more than once, the big lumbering creature with fur as white as his own hair now.

 

Izuna is highly disbelieving, but he looks at Tobirama, eyes searching and deep, and shrugs.

 

"I'd like to see your Bandersnatch at least once," he mumbles. "You described it quite well, with your strange flowery language. I didn't even know that you could speak like that."

 

Tobirama smiles, wistful, and settles back against the tree.

 

 _Soon,_ the oak tree whispers into Tobirama's ear. _Soon, the cycle will repeat._

 

Tobirama doesn't quite get it, but he hopes, and he sets himself up for disappointment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave a review on your way out or drop by my [twitter](https://twitter.com/zxrysky) and [tumblr](http://zxrysky.tumblr.com/)


	5. Chapter 5

They are fighting again, on the battlefield, and Tobirama is quite a distance away from Izuna - Izuna is in his line of sight, but for once, the younger brothers are not fighting each other, Tobirama is holding his own against three Uchiha with the Sharingan spinning in their eyes, and Izuna is sparring against _five_ Senju.

 

Izuna is losing, and try as he might to get to the boy, so that Tobirama might brush it off as the younger brother of the clan head trying to battle against the younger brother of the other clan head in a fight of honour etcetera, etcetera, he _can't_. Then again, maybe his father is angry with Tobirama for failing to slay the Uchiha despite having many chances to, and now he has separated them in the hope of other Senju killing Izuna and Tobirama _can't have that_. But he's too far away, not close enough, and he's distracted enough with the three Uchiha bearing down on him and Izuna is just _there_.

 

And those five Senju will _not_ strike with the flat of their blades.

  
Tobirama cannot control the trees, he cannot control the animals, and he is useless in this fight even though he wants to _save his friend_ and he panics. He fends off the Uchiha as best as he can, stalling them for just a while, and places his fingers between his lips, whistling high and pitched and long.

 

The Uchiha freeze for a moment, thinking that Tobirama is summoning some sort of strange creature, or that maybe it's a call for more backup, but that moment is fleeting and passes in the blink of an eye and they are bearing down on him again.

 

Tobirama recognises the whistle that instinct made him blow, it's from a world that can't _possibly_ exist here, in the Shinobi World, but he longs and longs and prays and prays and _wants_.

 

Izuna is wilting under the blows of the five Senju, and he is _losing, fast_. Tobirama doesn't think that he can last that long against _five_ of his elders either, and he is desperate for something, _someone, to help_ , and, and, and-

 

And something big and large and white as snow crashes through the forest, broken foliage in its wake.

 

Ninjas stop and _stare_ , for just a moment, because it's as big as a bear, possibly _bigger_ , with teeth as sharp as kunai and claws that can possibly slice a man in half and it is _running at them_. They scream a bit, scatter, and the animal charges at the party of Izuna and Senju.

 

It grabs Izuna by the scruff of his neck, and retreats back into the forest, back the way it came from.

 

The animal had fur as white as Tobirama's hair, and an all too familiar _scar_ running down its left eye and Tobirama doesn't dare breathe in case he breaks this spellbound dream.

 

He _knows_ that animal.

 

It's his _Bandersnatch_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave a review on your way out or drop by my [twitter](https://twitter.com/zxrysky) and [tumblr](http://zxrysky.tumblr.com/)


	6. Chapter 6

Tobirama, with renewed energy and vigour, cuts down all who try to stand in his way as he runs into the forest, running with the wind and the whispers of the trees who tell him the way his not-quite-pet ran, though it's actually pretty clear-cut, with the way the broken branches and trampled plants dot the path.

 

The old oak tree at the entrance of the clearing winks at him, and rustles its leaves in the direction of the clearing. Tobirama nods at it, and steps into the clearing.

 

For a long while, all he sees is white. The Bandersnatch has pounced on him, licking at his face and snuffling at his hair. It seems strangely interested in the fact that Tobirama no longer has golden hair, but _it recognises_ Tobirama, the same way Tobirama recognises it, and they tussle around for a good five minutes.

 

He gets up later, hair messy and strewn with leaves and the occasional twig stuck in there, eyes wild and shining. It's seeing Izuna there, at the side of the clearing, that grounds him. Izuna almost _died_ , and it takes him a while to get that fact settled in his mind.

 

Tobirama inches towards Izuna, and the Uchiha makes grabby hands at him, clutching at his clothes. "It's goddamn _huge_!" He hisses, eyes darting back to look at the Bandersnatch, who yawns in a clear display of its sharp teeth. Tobirama thinks that the Jabberwocky looks like a fat cat, or fat summon, whichever, and can't really wrap his mind around the fact that Izuna finds it life-threatening and scary.

 

"It's fluffy," Tobirama points out. "And surprisingly clean."

 

"Have you seen its _teeth_?"

 

"Yes," Tobirama says in all seriousness. "Of course. It's a carnivore, it eats meat, so obviously it would have sharp teeth…?" He frowns a bit, and presses the back of his palm against Izuna's forehead. "You're not having a fever, and you don't seem delirious… What's so frightening about it?"

 

Izuna flails wildly and stares at Tobirama for a solid five seconds before throwing his hands up in frustration and surrender. The Bandersnatch yawns again and snarls a bit, which makes Izuna quickly draw back his flailing limbs. Tobirama turns to give it a look, and it bares its teeth at him. The Senju can't stop the smile from crawling up his face because that action is so _familiar_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave a review on your way out or drop by my [twitter](https://twitter.com/zxrysky) and [tumblr](http://zxrysky.tumblr.com/)


	7. Chapter 7

Both the younger brothers are geniuses in their own right, smarter than the rest and paralleled only by their brothers, but it takes them quite a long while to realise that a) their parents and brothers would be searching for them by now, and b) where did the Bandersnatch come from? It belongs in Wonderland, shouldn't even have popped out of nowhere in this world, and Tobirama follows curiously behind the big animal as it snuffles its way along the forest floor.

 

It leads the duo to a large gaping hole in the middle of nowhere that looks like it has no _end_ to it, and Izuna shudders, before leaning back. Tobirama stares at it thoughtfully.

 

He screams a bit when something pops out, top hat with bandages tied loosely around it, eyes wild and makeup applied haphazardly on his face. The man wears coattails and dress pants and shiny shoes with a not so sane smile on his face and Tobirama doesn't think twice before he lunges at the man, forcing himself into his embrace.

 

" _Hatter_."

 

The Bandersnatch huffs at them and pushes them a bit further away from the edge of the hole, sharing a glance with Izuna that the two were probably idiots who didn't realise that if they tripped and fell in the hole, it would be a pain in the ass to get back out. Izuna didn't even want to try and fathom why he could empathise with an animal, much less a _Bandersnatch_.

 

" _Alice_ ," the man replies, smile on face and hands around him. His green eyes glance up - and Izuna _starts_ , because he's never seen a man with green eyes like that, shining and glowing and beautiful enough to be called a _jewel_ , like that emerald thing his mother calls jewellery - and settle on Izuna. The man - Hatter, Tobirama called him, and it rings faintly in his mind. The Hatter had been a prominent character in Tobirama's stories and Izuna thinks that he can glean enough from Tobirama's stories to know the man fairly well. The man offers a side twitch of his lips, and Izuna blinks.

 

"I've missed all of you," Tobirama says, muffled in Hatter's out of this world clothes, and Hatter murmurs something unintelligible.

 

It comes as a shock when there is a scandalised noise behind them, and something that sounds like choking.

 

Both boys whip around and groan when met with the shocked faces of their respective elder brothers. Madara is shocked because his little brother - who was reportedly almost _dead_ but saved by a mysterious white animal that is apparently huge as three ninjas combined and sitting in the corner just a distance away - is alive and with a huge ass beast and Tobirama. And Tobirama is hugging a _stranger_. A _man_. Madara's mind blows up a bit, and he stumbles. Hashirama is shocked because of Tobirama and the strange man and the hugging thing as well, but also the gigantic beast that does _not_ look in any way tame, and the fact that there is a _Uchiha_ there who is _not_ resolutely attacking Tobirama. In fact, his previous actions before Hashirama and Madara stumbled across them indicates that the younger Uchiha and Tobirama were _friends_.

 

Hashirama had Madara as an unlikely friend, but he had never expected that _Tobirama_ had a Uchiha friend too!

 

"I can explain," Tobirama makes out, before pausing and grimacing. Those three words were always the start of something _stupid_. "Sort of. Yes. It isn't what it looks like."

 

"There is a white _thing_ ," Hashirama chokes out, mildly horrified. "And you're hugging a _stranger_. What would _Mother_ say?"

 

The Bandersnatch bares its teeth, seeming like it's about to get up, and Hashirama whimpers quietly. Madara swallows.

 

"Slowly step away from the thing," Madara instructs them. "And please let go of that random stranger, Tobirama, you should know better than to follow random strangers no matter what they offer you. And _hell,_ is that a _hole_ in the middle of the forest- never mind, you two, just _slowly come here to us_."

 

The Hatter slinks away from Tobirama, and Tobirama barely catches himself before he trails after the man, to the strong disapproval and shock of his brother. The Hatter smiles, eyes creasing and head tilting, and sweeps into a bow, lifting his top hat off with a flourish.

 

"Hatter, at your delightful service, if you would have me."

 

There was a short silence, before he straightened, returning his hat to its original position and frowning. "Come to think of it, I wouldn't actually bother if you wouldn't have me, all that matters is Alice." He turns towards Tobirama, green eyes bright as he continues," And will Alice have me?"

 

"Yes," Tobirama replies, while Hashirama says "Who's Alice?" Hashirama gives a shocked yell when it registers in his mind that it's _Tobirama_ who replied.

 

"If Alice will have me, then that's all that there is to it," Hatter declares. "Nothing else is important, after all!"

 

Madara is still frozen on the spot, and Hashirama has trouble closing his mouth, while Izuna buries his face in his hands and Tobirama beams. The Bandersnatch yawns and pads over to Tobirama, settling around him.

 

Wonderland has never been very much governed by rules of any sort, and wherever Wonderlanders go, they bring their larger-than-life personality with them. It's a nice change from the other ninjas' blind following of the orders of the clan head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave a review on your way out or drop by my [twitter](https://twitter.com/zxrysky) and [tumblr](http://zxrysky.tumblr.com/)


	8. Chapter 8

The Hatter regales him with tales of how Wonderland has flourished, of how the trees sing and the flowers bloom like no tomorrow.

 

In more hushed tones, he tells Tobirama how he is remembered as the one true Queen of Wonderland forever more, where the people gather together to remember Alice's sacrifices in a world that was never hers to begin with, but ended as more than hers altogether.

 

Tobirama sighs, soft and happy but _oh so nostalgic_ as he curls up against Hatter, breathing in the familiar scent of hazel and oak. It is the scent of someone who _knows_ trees, _knows_ the plants, _knows_ the forest as intimately as Tobirama does, and it's something that Hashirama severely lacks. For all that his brother adores spending time amongst the gigantic trees he has grown, he does not know his trees.

 

Hashirama swallows, and tries to wrap his mind around the idea of his brother having been a _Queen_ , once upon a time, not so long ago. Madara does the same, while Izuna busies himself with asking the Hatter questions about Tobirama's stint as Queen.

 

"He found peace for our country," Hatter says, looking over at Tobirama mildly, emerald eyes softening. "He was our saviour. Our leader. He let us to victory against Red and _more_. He is, and will always be, the Queen of Wonderland."

 

Madara jolts at the word _peace_ , connects his eyes with Hashirama, and Tobirama raises an eyebrow at that. Surely, _surely_ his brother and Izuna's brother are not trying to attain peace in this war torn country, not when both of their _fathers_ are the direct cause of the country being war torn. Peace is something attained through patience, hard work, and diligence. Fighting and overpowering the current leaders to force their ideal of peace onto the country will not last, no matter how much they wish it. Peace has to be something everyone whole heartedly desires and then chases. Peace is… Tobirama sighs. He is confusing himself with the word peace. All he knows is that it is undeniably _hard_ under these conditions. The people of Wonderland united in the fight for peace against Red; how will Madara and Hashirama band together people to fight for the peace they want? _Who_ would dare to defy the current heads of either clan by fraternising with the heirs?

 

Madara and Hashirama are fighting a hard battle, and Tobirama sighs again.

 

It tires his mind. Izuna pokes the Bandersnatch, slow and tentative, and the Bandersnatch bares its teeth at the boy. Izuna breathes out a laugh, because now he knows, now he _knows_ that the Bandersnatch will never touch him, as long as Tobirama is his friend.

 

Hashirama seems to have decided on something, and he gets up, fixing Tobirama with a stern look. "You will be telling Father, won't you?" He asked. "And please get away from that man; we don't know if we can trust him yet."

 

"We can trust him," Tobirama replies, ignoring Hashirama's first question. "He's Hatter."

 

Hashirama looks sullen, but he lets it go. "And Father?"

 

"If he knows this," Tobirama says with lidded eyes, looking up at his brother. "Then he will never let me out of the house again."

 

Hashirama trembles at this, because he knows it's _true_ , no matter how much he doesn't want to believe it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't think I have anything else for this story... But you can drop by my [tumblr](http://zxrysky.tumblr.com/) or [twitter](https://twitter.com/zxrysky) and give a few prompts if you would like! Please leave a review on your way out.

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave a review on your way out or drop by my [twitter](https://twitter.com/zxrysky) and [tumblr](http://zxrysky.tumblr.com/)


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